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54,700 Dead Or Missing In Worst North Korean Floods Ever
Seoul (AFP) Aug 16, 2006 About 54,700 people were dead or missing and 2.5 million others homeless after last month's floods in North Korea, the worst in the country's history, an independent humanitarian group said Wednesday. The figure is a huge leap from the 10,000 dead or missing reported earlier by Good Friends, a South Korean group and long-term aid partner for North Korea. Large tracts of farmland and entire villages are believed to have been washed away in floods and landslides, raising serious concerns over the impoverished country's ability to feed itself. "The number of victims, either dead or missing, totaled 54,700. There were some 2.5 million people left homeless," Good Friends said in a statement released here. The group described the damage, caused by a typhoon on July 10 followed by three days of heavy monsoon rains, as "the worst ever in North Korean flooding history". It said the new tally was an approximate figure based on final counts in late July, without revealing its sources. The group also said 231 bridges were washed away along with large swathes of agricultural land. Immediate confirmation was not possible. North Korea's state media reported last month that at least "hundreds" were dead or missing in the flooding. The group said North Korea's southwestern province of Hwanghaedo, the communist state's largest grain-producing area, was among those areas hardest hit. "Words are running around (in North Korea) that there will be 'nothing to harvest for this year'," the aid group said. Damage to the harvest across North Korea has sparked concerns that its chronic food shortages may worsen again this year. Serious flooding helped trigger a famine in the mid-1990s in which aid groups claim some two million North Koreans died. A decade later the country is still unable to feed all of its 23 million population and heavily depends on outside food aid. North Korea had relied on emergency shipments from the UN's World Food Program to feed one third of its population since the mid-1990s, but it stopped accepting the aid late last year. North Korea's devastating flood damage is often blamed on its bare hillsides, stripped of tree cover by impoverished residents looking for fuel and particularly vulnerable to landslides. At a time when it apparently needs international help, North Korea finds itself increasingly isolated after test-firing ballistic missiles on July 5. The famously reclusive country had already been locked in a prolonged stand-off with the United States over its nuclear ambitions. After the missile test, South Korea, a key humanitarian donor, suspended rice and fertilizer aid and only decided to consider resuming supplies last week. The Seoul government said Friday that it would provide some 10 million dollars to civic groups working to help repair flood damage in North Korea.
Source: Agence France-Presse Related Links A world of storm and tempest Bring Order To A World Of Disasters
Supplies Pour In As Philippine Volcano Holds Region In Suspense
Legaspi, Philippines (AFP) Aug 15, 2006Relief supplies began arriving Tuesday as thousands of Philippine villagers braced for a lengthy stay in overcrowded evacuation centers while the Mayon volcano held its fire. Officials say they have enough resources for one week, but they fear the villagers may have to stay in evacuation centers for up to two months due to Mayon's recent instability. |
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